MEDINAH, Ill. – Jay Haas has turned the 81st PGA Championship into a family affair. His 18-year-old son Jay Haas, Jr. is serving as his caddie for the tournament.

Though Haas has been on the Tour 23 years and knows how to manage his own golf game, he isn’t afraid to take his son’s advice.

“He’s doing most of the yardage,” Haas said. “We walk it off sometimes together, sometimes he does it, sometimes I’ll mark it off. He has the book, though. I trust him. He has done this now six or seven times and if something looks funny, I’ll say, ‘Is that right?’ But that hasn’t occurred yet this week.”

The pair enjoyed a successful first two rounds where Haas shot 68-67 to start yesterday’s third-round leading the tournament at 9-under par. While the younger Haas is free to offer advice, there’s no question who is the boss.

“I said in a TV interview that he agrees with everything I say, and that’s his job as a caddie,” the elder Haas said.

But this is clearly more than a golfer/caddie relationship.

“He has been an inspiration,” the elder Haas said. “Just to have him out there, just to talk with him, walk with him, it’s fun.”

The younger Haas is a 1-handicap and will be entering his freshman year at Augusta State. He will get a percentage of his father’s earning, which should come in handy when school begins. Along with marking off yards, Jay Haas Jr., helps his father read the difficult greens at Medinah.

“He helps me some on the line,” Haas said. “No.9 was a good example. I really couldn’t tell if it as going to break or be pretty straight and I asked him to look at it. There was another case where I said, ‘I think it might go a little bit left. He said, ‘Yeah, I think it might also.’ Whether or not he really believed that, he made me believe it and it worked and the putt broke a little bit left.

“Reading putts is pretty difficult,” Haas continued. “I don’t care if you’ve caddied or been around a guy for 10 straight years. It’s so individual. You’re feeling a certain speed that you’re going to hit this putt, so it’s going to break a little bit more.

“The only time I ask him on a putt is when I really don’t feel confident that I have the correct line and then I’ll ask him and I’ll point at a ball mark or something like that and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, I like that.’ That’s the way we go at it.”

Haas said it would be special to win the PGA Championship not only because it would be his first major, but also because he could experience it with his son.

“It would mean a great deal,” Haas said. “I’ve played a long time out here without a major win. We all want to win golf tournaments and majors especially and I’ve not done that. I’m disappointed that that hasn’t happen. I’m not devastated by it, but we all think we can do better.”